Spiritual America or Songs of the Sky A1, 1923

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Remarks

“Wait until you see the first picture I made this summer—a picture of ‘America’!—A gelding.—You’ll be amused” (Stieglitz to Herbert Seligmann, 10 October 1923, YCAL).

The alternate title for this print (Songs of the Sky A1) is based on documents received from the Estate in 1949. In later years Stieglitz explicitly linked his photographs of horses and clouds, writing to Evelyn Scott: “Did you know racehorses the world over have been a weakness (another) of mine for over 60 years.—If I had been a rich man I would have had racehorses & photographed the Life of the Racehorse.—It has never been done.—The Sky—Woman—Racehorse—Three Motives all telling the full story.—I have the ‘Sky’—I have Woman partly—I’ll have to return to Earth to complete her story & also to get down my story of the Racehorse—All One Story!—” (9 July 1933, Harry Ransom Humanities Research Center, University of Texas, Austin).

Stieglitz Collections

A corresponding print was given to the following institution(s) by Alfred Stieglitz during his lifetime, or was received or acquired from the estate:

The Art Institute of Chicago, 1949.794

George Eastman Museum, Rochester, 74:0052:0041

Library of Congress, Washington, PH-29 A

The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, 49.55.24

Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, 50.855

National Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo, Ph-161

Philadelphia Museum of Art, 1949-18-89 (inscribed: A₄)

San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, 52.1827

Other Collections

A print corresponding with this photograph can also be found in the following collection(s):

The Bluff Collection

The J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles, 93.XM.25.12

Private collection (inscribed: For Société Anonyme Exhibition / Brooklyn Museum / 1. Spiritual America / by Alfred Stieglitz / !! Will be called / for after close of / Exhibition by / Geo. F. Of / NY)

Lifetime Exhibitions

A print from the same negative—perhaps a photograph from the Gallery’s collection—appeared in the following exhibition(s) during Alfred Stieglitz’s lifetime:

1924, New York (no. 1, as Spiritual America)
1926, Brooklyn (no. 284, as Spiritual America, 1923)

Lifetime Publications

A reproduction of this work appeared in the following publication(s) during Alfred Stieglitz’s lifetime:

Waldo Frank et al., America & Alfred Stieglitz (New York, 1934): pl. 31c (ill., Spiritual America, 1923)

Inscription

by Georgia O'Keeffe, on mount, upper left verso, in graphite: 155C

Provenance

Georgia O'Keeffe; gift to NGA, 1949.

Exhibition History

1958

Photographs by Alfred Stieglitz, National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC, March 16–April 27, 1958

1983

Photographs by Alfred Stieglitz, National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC, February 3–May 8, 1983; Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, June 17–August 14, 1983; The Art Institute of Chicago, October 18, 1983–January 3, 1984

2001

Modern Art and America: Alfred Stieglitz and His New York Galleries, National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC, 2001

Bibliography

1983

Greenough, Sarah, and Juan Hamilton. Alfred Stieglitz: Photographs and Writings. Washington, 1983: no. 109, pl. 54.

2000

Modern Art and America: Alfred Stieglitz and His New York Galleries. Exh. cat. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 2001: no. 97.

2002

Greenough, Sarah. Alfred Stieglitz: The Key Set: The Alfred Stieglitz Collection of Photographs. Washington, 2002: vol. 2, cat. 889.

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